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SAVOYV6_icon1_beardsley_front_cover

The cover design, in portrait orientation, combines letterpress and a line-block reproduction of a pen-and-ink design by Aubrey Beardsley. The publishing information occupies the top third of the page, followed below by artwork. The page is divided into boxes. At the top, there is a rectangle taking up one-third of the page. Inside the rectangle is the text: “THE SAVOY” [caps] in display type, comprising the top two-thirds of the box in height. Below that text, and centered, set in smaller font, appears: “AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY” [caps]. In the line below that there is small text aligned to the left side that says: “No. 6”. In the same line, centred, is the text: “October 1896”. In the same line, right aligned, there is the text: “Price 2/-”. One line below and centered the letterpress reads: “EDITED BY ARTHUR SYMONS” [caps]. The artwork below is of two supernatural figures floating above a landscape; they appear to be characters from Wagner’s opera, Das Rheingold, Loge, the god of fire, and Wotan, king of the gods (compare Savoy volume 2 pa 193). .The supernatural figure in the foreground is on the right side of the page and takes up about half the framed space in height. Its bare feet rest on the bottom frame of the illustration. It floats just to the right of a cloud that occupies the centre bottom left of the picture frame. It is, facing towards the viewer, with its head turned left and its left arm pointing out to the right edge of the illustration. It is wearing a loose robe: the fabric wraps around its legs and across its midsection, pinned on both sides by the armpits. The robe is made out of draped fabric. Small flames spread across the figure’s torso. One larger flame extends from the figure’s right foot up to just past its right shoulder. The figure has black hair that is divided into smaller flame--like strands, which come to a point sticking directly up at the crown of its head. To the right behind the figure is a grove of trees, tightly packed and thick with leaves. Behind this grove stands rolling foothills that lead to a sharply peaked mountain on the right edge of the page, halfway up from the bottom of the page. Behind and to the left of the figure stands another jagged peak, but this one is about half the size of the other, and doesn’t rise so sharply. To the left of the first figure are puffy rounded clouds that extend to the left edge of the page, and continue upwards to just cover about one-quarter of the page. From amongst these clouds arises the second supernatural figure, located behind and to the left of the first. It extends to the very top and left edges of the artwork, its head resting just below the banner of publishing information. It is facing towards the left, with its body turned away from the viewer. It is wearing a long robe that covers the entirety of its body, but it is held up in such a way to suggest that its arms are crossed high up on its chest. It has long curled black hair that reaches halfway down its back, tapering to a point. Its face is in profile, with a pointed chin and defined nose. In its hair it has what might be a horn that curves back, or a type of hair accessory. In the bottom left corner a white box contains the black initials of the artist: A.B.